BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2285
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2285 (McCarty)
As Amended May 27, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Public |7-0 |Bonta, Waldron, | |
|Employees | |Cooley, Cooper, | |
| | |Cristina Garcia, | |
| | |O'Donnell, Wagner | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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AB 2285
Page 2
SUMMARY: Establishes the Former Foster Youth Job Readiness
Training Pilot Program (Program) to provide state employment
training opportunities for qualified foster youth and former
foster youth. Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding the
state's responsibility for the well-being of foster youth and
former foster youth.
2)Requires the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE),
with moneys appropriated by the Legislature, to develop and
administer the Program whose goal is to prepare "aged out"
foster care participants for entry-level employment with the
state.
3)Requires SCOE to develop and application ad create criteria
for selecting eligible organizations to provide job readiness
training to eligible participants.
4)Requires SCOE to award grants to selected eligible
organizations to be used for the following purposes:
a) To pay for trainers to provide job readiness training to
eligible participants.
b) To provide a stipend to an eligible participant who meet
both of the following criteria:
i) Remains actively engaged in and attends the
training, as specified.
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ii) Enrolls and actively engages in a high school
equivalency preparation class if the participant does not
have a high school diploma or equivalency certificate.
5)Requires SCOE to compile data on the Program, as specified,
and to make that data available to California Department of
Human Resources (CalHR) and the Legislature upon request.
6)Defines "eligible organization" for purposes of these
provisions as an organization that satisfies all of the
following:
a) The organization is exempt from federal income taxation
as an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code and in compliance with all applicable
laws and requirements.
b) The organization demonstrates expertise in providing job
readiness training.
c) Any additional criteria required by SCOE.
7)Defines "eligible participant" for purposes of these
provisions as an individual, 25 years of age or younger, who
is certified by DSS as having been in foster care, as
specified.
8)Defines "job readiness training" for purposes of these
provisions as an individual service plan that develops core
competencies that create an experience and educational base
for an individual to meet the qualifications for entry-level
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employment in state service.
9)Requires CalHR, in consultation with the Department of Social
Services (DSS) and the SCOE, to promote the training of foster
youth participating in the Program in entry level unclassified
positions for their eventual hiring in classified positions in
state departments located within Sacramento County, as
specified.
10)Prohibits a participant in the Program from applying for a
classification unless he or she meets the minimum
qualifications for the classification.
11)Requires the participant, once he or she has been trained in
the unclassified position for at least three months but not
more than nine months and after receiving a positive
recommendation from the appropriate supervisor, to take a
written examination for the classification in which he or she
has trained, if a written examination is generally required
for other applicants in that classification.
12)Provides that a participant in the Program that does not pass
the written examination, as specified, will be released from
the training program.
13)Repeals these provisions on January 1, 2020.
14)Appropriates, to the extent allowed by federal law,
$1,100,000 from the Consolidated Work Program Fund to the SCOE
for the purpose of implementing the Program.
EXISTING LAW provides, under the state Civil Service Act, for
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filling certain state positions through the process of
examinations and the establishment of eligible lists and
promotional lists.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, annual costs in the range of $350,000 (Consolidated
Work Program Fund)."
COMMENTS: According to information provided to the Committee by
the author, foster youth often have more barriers to finding,
getting and keeping a job than youth that are permanently
connected to a family, and the emotional and economic support
they provide.
Studies have estimated that the average non-foster care youth
receives assistance from their parents of approximately $38,000
between the ages of 18 and 34. Those former foster youth who
age out of the system often don't have access to these
resources.
In California, 45% of California's emancipated foster youth are
unemployed, 30% are on welfare and 1/3 of former foster youth
have incomes at, or below, $6000 per year- substantially below
the federal poverty level of $11,770 for a single individual.
The author states, "By investing in pathways to employment after
emancipation for former foster youth, AB 2285 will provide youth
the skills and training necessary to become productive members
of society while decreasing the demand for emergency and other
public services by this population."
This bill is similar to AB 671 (Beall) of 2007, which would have
established the Emancipated Foster Youth Program to provide
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state employment opportunities for qualified foster youth and
former foster youth. The provisions dealing with foster youth
were deleted from the bill in the Senate.
Analysis Prepared by:
Karon Green / P.E.,R., & S.S. / (916) 319-3957
FN:
0003115